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In A Safe Place
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Sub Pop
Release Date: 22 June 2004
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Experimental
Summary
Classically-trained guitarist Jimmy LaValle, who has played on albums by Tristeza and Black Heart Procession in addition to his own Album Leaf project, traveled from San Diego, CA to Iceland to record this third Album Leaf disc as a guest of Sigur Ros. Members of Sigur Ros, Mum, and Black Heart Procession appear on the album.
Also By This Artist: Into The Blue Again
Also On The Web: Album Leaf @ Sub Pop Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Tiny Mix Tapes
This isn't an edgy, experimental record. It instead explores human nature through conventional tonality and flow, delicately combining melancholy, detachment, and exhilaration.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
Not only the best Album Leaf album to date but one of the best albums of the year.
Read Full Review >Billboard
A moody, yet seemingly sprawling album of (mostly) instrumentals that rely on the evolving crescendo to make a statement.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
This Icelandic association seems to have triggered a benign crisis in Jimmy Lavalle's composition gland and stimulated his transformation from a major key minor artist to a minor key major artist in the course of this one volume.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Drifts somewhere between Mogwai's softest moments and Her Space Holiday's wry prettiness. [Aug 2004, p.101]
PopMatters
The album is stitched together so finely, the songs hardly distinguish themselves from the overall pace, which is slow and summery, and the constructions, which vary between listless nowheresville ambience and introverted pop melodies.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Detractors will be sure to note that In a Safe Place can feel numbingly repetitive at moments, but all that expansive diddling contributes equally to the record's allure: Like rolling past the North Pole or through West Texas, this record plays with its own redundancies, building an entire universe from strange, barren pieces.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
An atmospheric slab of mostly instrumental keyboard-driven music that basically sounds like a further advanced version of what LaValle has been doing for some time now.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
While not entirely successful throughout, it still contains enough majestic moments of sheer aural bliss to qualify as one of the most beautifully melodic down tempo-instrumental albums you are likely to hear this year.
Read Full Review >Urb
The real beauty lies in how Iceland's dynamic conditions are mimed in minimalist clicks and cuts, and overlapping swashes of snapping drums, sparkling piano and acoustic guitar. [Jul/Aug 2004, p.124]
Q Magazine
It's wallpaper you'll be glad you bothered to hang. [Aug 2004, p.106]
All Music Guide
LaValle retains his heavily textural, impressionist flair, but has begun to repeat himself heavily, with none of the freshness or vigor of previous material.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
A night spent listing to In A Safe Place still begs one question--"Why didn't I just play Agaetis Byrjun instead?" [#7]
Magnet
The melancholia lacks distinguishing marks. [#64, p.80]
Alternative Press
Offers few intriguing instrumental twists and only the faintest percussive pulse. [Aug 2004, p.106]
Uncut
All tasteful minimalism and soft lighting, this is more Vangelis than adventurous. [Sep 2004, p.108]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mark J gave it an8:
A nice piece of work. Pitchfork puts it best really in that the album may appear bland/uncreative/repetitive but always keeps that cold celestial feel with it. Recorded in Iceland; as you begin to listen, you realize the sound they want and they hold onto that sound creating slight variations here and there. It triumphs at Eastern Glow giving a subtle climax to the CD before drifting off into Mossy Mountain. Great for relaxing and studying. Not Sigur Ros, sure. Two completely different bands. To give this band a 0 however is inane and completely unvalidated.
Mark J gave it an8:
It's a solid album, and surely not deserving of anything below a 6. Though it may appear repetitive, it's beauty lies in the subtle changes it makes from song to song finally climaxing in Eastern Glow.
Mickey M gave it a0:
Boring, unoriginal and a complete waste of time. Probably the most uninspired album of all time. Worst post-rock album i've ever heard. The blandness of this album is unequalled. I can't believe how some critics have dressed this crap up. Such a lack of feeling and imagination. I actually despise this album.
Chris L gave it a10:
What a phenominal CD. Everything about it is amazingly well put together. It begins and ends effortlessly and takes you for a ride that is so celestial and strange that you'll want to come back again and again. I think of it as the moments after a night of partying before falling asleep and before waking up hung over.
Steve gave it a10:
the more you listen the more you realize what an incredible album this is. Great to listen to before bed.
Nick gave it a9:
Atmospheric and incredible.
Joshua O. gave it a9:
It's nothing new, especially if you listen to a lot of postrockish stuff, but this album just screams (well, maybe sleepily mumbles) "listen to me, over and over again." It's not a day time album, but if you'll looking for something to gently carry you to sleep - this is it. Highly recommended.
